Ross Northrop
Ross Northrop is a main character in TC, and is the leader of the Bruisers clique. He was played by Hamiden. Character Description Ross is a tall and very large student with red, medium sized hair. It is said that Ross has incredible strength, being able to lift a fully grown man into the air with one arm. Ross wears an untucked white dress shirt, along with jeans and dark brown boots. During winter, Ross is dressed almost the same, but instead he has a beanie on his head. Ross has a hidden tattoo on his left bicep, having done it to show his love for his mother. It is also stated that Ross has gigantism, which could explain his height and size. To give a gauge of Ross's strength, he is so incredibly strong that he can crush pipes with his strength and is even said to be perhaps the strongest student on the campus, even proving to be a threat which not even Clyde Marsh can justifiably conquer as the latter had to think outside of the box to defeat him and convert him to a side of justice. Ross Northrop has various medical problems both stated and hinted at or rumored. His size may be the result of gigantism or acromegal since he is said to have overactive and somewhat unusual glands. According to some students on the campus, Ross was once in a psycho ward, though this might be a lie due to the untrustworthy status of most of the gossip cycled and recycled through campus on a daily basis. Ross is extremely unintelligent with the mind of a small child suggesting a mental handicap or deficiency of some sort, but uses his false impression of misguidance with faculty and staff around campus to receive assistance with assignments and pass on a daily basis. Ross can also be seen threatening Astronomy Club students to complete homework and assignments generally, abusing his fear to get academically challenging things done for him. Ross, not without a moral conscience, sometimes even spares his victims and subjects of bullying, refraining from tormenting them under certain conditions to his entertainment and joy, toying around with them. However, he has a clear sense of right and wrong acknowledging when Clyde makes him realize that his bullying is bad. He has a fear of going to prison and is afraid of the police, justifying that he has a clear sense of right and wrong, acknowledging the moral consequences of his actions under some certain conditions. He sometimes quotes, "Inside Ross's thick skin; big heart of warrior poet." Ross has poor grammar and he frequently refers to himself in the third person. One of his favorite quotes is "Ross smash!", perhaps a nod to the comic book character The Hulk, who is known to say "Hulk smash!" He lives in the rich, Preppy dominated area of Old Thirlcrest Vale, suggesting that his family may be relatively well off. His parents are divorced, however, and he is known to have mental issues stemming from his lack of intelligence and his poor academic achievement in the classes that he attends at Thirlcrest Academy. Characteristics Ross, due to his size and explosive behavior, is the most feared student on campus. Because of his notorious reputation, it is implied that even the Prefects fear him, as they are usually seen letting him off the hook most of the time, some even running away from him. It is possible that due to his immense strength and hugely built body, that other cliques like the Jocks, Preps and even the Greasers don't bother with the Bruisers, as they are no match for Ross. Even though Ross bullies clique members from Jocks, Preppies and Greasers, his peers do not seem to bother with the cliques at all, having no interest in the pecking order. It is acknowledged numerous times that the Nerds are his arch enemies, as he is more volatile towards the respective clique members than any other clique. According to Wyatt Martin, a fellow Bruiser and friend to Ross, is that he holds a personal grudge against the Greasers. Although it isn't official, it is heavily implied that Ross may have a learning disability, as his grades may show off. School faculty and other adults tend to help Ross, as they view him as a student with a learning disability, as he usually shows his good side to them. Ross is perhaps one of the strongest in Thirlcrest Academy, but he is topped by Clyde Marsh; the latter of which bested him in raw fighting skill. It is said that Ross has lower stamina than the average character in the game. He can easily grow tired of chasing after Clyde, but his health and his durability is higher than any normal character in the game. The player will have a hard time bringing him down with raw power alone in Chapters 1, 2, and 3, but will find it gradually easier to bring him down after learning more fighting techniques and unlocking more weapons. Ross is easily one of the toughest characters to fight in the game and he is only topped in this hierarchy of toughness by a few characters; mainly being known as Rodger Munsen, Derek Vinyard, and Clyde Marsh in a few cases. Ross's strength is so great that he has been shown to be able to bend pipes in half with his strength and easily crush the bones of other students on campus. He has been shown powerbombing them to the floor and putting them into unimaginable holds. He has large hands and an unconditionally strong grip which allows him to grasp objects. Ross's strength is a controlling factor in how he is perceived around campus and he is even feared by Sully West; the latter of which who is so irrational that he even rages out at individuals whom he knows that are stronger or mightier than him. Ross is undoubtedly one of the most intimidating students on campus and has even once been stated by Bucky Jones to have the potential to take over the school himself if he were not "so mentally retarded" most of the time. Among these traits, Ross has the intelligence of a little child. It makes him easy to lie to and manipulate, and also gives him the equivalent factors of vulnerability in issues concerning basic arithmetic or problem solving as seen in the mission The Unfettered where a job deal with the Astronomy Club lands Ross in unimaginable trouble with the law and the Prefects, nearly getting him into expulsion. Role in game After Clyde beats Wyatt in a fight at the beginning of the game, Ross attacks Clyde. He is stopped by Dr. Martinez before he can do any damage. Clyde is later forced to pay Ross not to attack him, and retaliates at Bucky's urge by breaking into Ross's locker and stealing the Bruiser shirt. Ross remains a dangerous antagonist for Chapter 1, although he never attends class, he's mainly easy to avoid. Clyde does have a run-in with him in the dorm hallways at Halloween Times. At the end of Chapter 1, Bucky tricks Ross and Clyde into fighting each other in The Hole, hoping to get him beaten up infront of the entire school. When Clyde wins the fight, Ross, along with the other Bruisers, becomes his friend and firm ally for the rest of the game. Ross can regularly be found on campus, and can always be hired by Clyde after Chapter 1. Ross backs Clyde up in several missions, including one that involves heading into Old Thirlcrest Vale for a revenge hit againts the honor students for backstabbing him. Much later, Ross, with a stolen motorcycle, helps Clyde break into the barricaded Dropout hideout. After Clyde helps him avoid the police, he helps Clyde head back to Thirlcrest and end the fighting between the cliques. His final role in the game is Ross chasing the prefects off David Stein and Abuzar Kazarov, for them pinning Clyde down that they claimed that he had a weapon on his hand. Presumably after that, Ross was able to scare them off. Ross can be seen at the end of the game amongst the characters cheering on Clyde after bringing peace to the school. Trivia * Ross cannot be bullied. The humiliation technique doesn't work on him. If attempted on him, Ross will automatically punch the player across the face, cancelling out the animation command completely. In most cases, the punch leaves Clyde stunned for a few seconds. Developers have explained that Ross cannot be bullied because of the fact that his large size provides him virtual invulnerability to being picked on. The only instance that Ross can be bullied is in the mission Ross in The Hole after being reduced to 1/4th of his usual health amount. * Ross is rendered immune to punishment by the Prefects. Because of this, any punishment animation commands being ran on Ross are usually reduced to Ross reversing it on a Prefect and pulling them down to the floor. Ross has shown both in cutscenes and general free roam that he is stronger than the Prefects as he has been able to take them down and he is immune to being taken down or punished by them. He is able to take out Prefects with lesser hits than what is required of Clyde Marsh and his hits generally do more and more damage the more frequently they are done. * Ross is based off of Russell Northrop from Bully (2006) and most of his character concept ideas are based off of this in retrospect. Category:Clique Leaders Category:Bosses Category:Characters Category:Students Category:Main Characters Category:Bruisers